Factors Correlated with Equity Market Risk Premiums in Developed and Emerging Markets

This paper re-examines how three theory-suggested factors affect equity returns - specified as risk-premiums - and how the results differ between developed and emerging markets. Traditional time series or cross-sectional regression procedures have yielded inconclusive evidence on maintained hypotheses about the determinants of equity premiums. However, on pooling observations, our estimated coefficients are much more accurate. Using panel data regression, we find that the risk premiums of developed appear to be affected by variation in the three factors within the equity markets of countries. In the emerging Asian markets, the risk premiums are affected more by the variation over time in at least one of the same three factors.

Isolation of a kojic acid-producing fungus capable of using starch as a carbon source

A fungal strain (S33-2), able to grow on cooked starch and produce a substantially high level of kojic acid, was isolated from morning glory flower (Bixa orellana). The fungus was characterized and identified as Aspergillus flavus. The effect of different types of starch (sago, potato and corn starch) on growth of strain S33-2 and kojic acid production was examined using shake flasks. It was found that strain S33-2 grew well on all types of starch investigated. However, kojic acid production was highest when corn starch was used, with the maximum kojic acid obtained being comparable to fermentation using glucose. The highest kojic acid production (19.2 g l-1) was obtained when 75 g l-1 corn starch was used. This gave a yield, based on starch consumed, and an overall productivity of 0.256 g g-1 and 0.04 g l-1 h-1, respectively

Effect Of Nutrient Deficient Media & Environmental Stressors On Microalgal Growth

Research on microalgae has been greatly developed as microalgae are one of the new fast solution‟s to many of world‟s problems such biofuel, environmental remediation, aquaculture and hunger. Microalgae are great factory because of their components that can be extracted and converted into many kinds of product. Every single cell of microalgae is a tiny factory which produces certain useful products. A few of the important extracted product are lipid, carbohydrate and protein, and different species of algae produce different composition of this amount. In order to produce valuable products, it is very important to view algae culture under different environmental stressors to maximize algae production. The studies in this project are based on four different species, which are Isochrysis galbana spp., Tetraselmis batan spp., Nannochloropsis spp. and Pavlouva lutheri spp. The optimum number of cells and kinetic growth of 250C, pH 7, and 24 hours normal light intensity are determined. The extractions of lipid from both fresh and dried algae are done. Different environmental stressors are given to Pavlouva lutheri spp (salinity and photoperiod) and the optical density and amount of lipid content are verified

Architecture as Urban Catalyst: Infographic Design Guideline on Kuala Lumpur Riverfront Revitalisation

In various areas, communities and localities worldwide, a traversing river plays a vital role as the lifeblood of many dwellings and urban areas. Kuala Lumpur's expanding urban spaces indicate a thriving economy. Despite this, the rapid development has led to the construction of many residential and commercial buildings along the river, resulting in pollution from domestic, physical, and chemical waste. This pollution poses a threat to urban waste management, impacting both health and the river's ecosystem. To address this issue, this study endeavours to recommend an updated set of design guidelines for the Dayabumi, Kuala Lumpur riverfront architecture. The recommended guideline will focus on alterations to the river form and build form interventions to achieve the desired results. Through case studies, literature reviews, and observations from developed countries, the study identified best practices for waste management and architectural design. The findings encompass waste management programs and design guidelines covering build form, river form, green coverings, economy injection, and the overall urban environment. By enforcing appropriate regulations and preparing for future waste production, we can protect and revitalize the riverfront at Dayabumi, Kuala Lumpur

Training needs assessment in Malaysia: Exercise held at Kuala Lampur and Kota Bharu from 13th October 1989

Training / Irrigation / Evaluation / Malaysia

Estimating dynamic model parameters for adaptive protection and control in power system

This paper presents a new approach in estimating important parameters of power system transient stability model such as inertia constant H and direct axis transient reactance xd' in real time. It uses a variation of unscented Kalman filter (UKF) on the phasor measurement unit (PMU) data. The accurate estimation of these parameters is very important for assessing the stability and tuning the adaptive protection system on power swing relays. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in a simulated data from 16-machine 68-bus system model. The paper also presents the performance comparison between the UKF and EKF method in estimating the parameters. The robustness of method is further validated in the presence of noise that is likely to be in the PMU data in reality

Growth Enhancement of Probiotic Pediococcus acidilactici by Extractive Fermentation of Lactic Acid Exploiting Anion-Exchange Resin

Fermentation employing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) often suffers end-product inhibition which reduces the cell growth rate and the production of metabolite. The utility of adsorbent resins for in situ lactic acid removal to enhance the cultivation performance of probiotic, Pediococcus acidilactici was studied. Weak base anion-exchange resin, Amberlite IRA 67 gave the highest maximum uptake capacity of lactic acid based on Langmuir adsorption isotherm (0.996 g lactic acid/g wet resin) compared to the other tested anion-exchange resins (Amberlite IRA 410, Amberlite IRA 400, Duolite A7 and Bowex MSA). The application of Amberlite IRA 67 improved the growth of P. acidilactici about 67 times compared to the control fermentation without resin addition. Nevertheless, the in situ addition of dispersed resin in the culture created shear stress by resins collision and caused direct shear force to the cells. The growth of P. acidilactici in the integrated bioreactor-internal column system containing anion-exchange resin was further improved by 1.4 times over that obtained in the bioreactor containing dispersed resin. The improvement of the P. acidilactici growth indicated that extractive fermentation using solid phase is an effective approach for reducing by-product inhibition and increasing product titer

Vision sensor application for intelligent polishing robotic cell

Robotics especially on polishing process has not been exploited successfully in manufacturing, despite tremendous research efforts and potential needs in industries. There is still much concern on how robots are used in industries and stumbling blocks in the deployment of technology. In this study, the techniques to alleviate difficulties in using robots and deploying advanced technologies in the real manufacturing environment will be developed. However, the mirror polishing process still depends on human expert, compared to CNC and CAD/CAM technology. On top of that, undesirable working condition exists due to dust and noise. Next, it is quite difficult to find skilled technicians where existing industrial robot (normally with repetitive accuracy of 0.1mm) not suitable for mirror polishing task requirement (10nm). This study addresses idea to develop and automate the polishing process by using robots. It applies specifically on flat steel surfaces and the image of the workpiece is captured by vision sensor. The image captured is extracted to develop ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System) to determine the roughness so that correct polishing parameter will be applied on the surface of the workpiece when polishing is done. ANFIS is well suited to the management of uncertainty, is introduced to address the uncertainty problem associated with surface roughness